WOMEN TRADE PRISON GARB FOR GOWNS

Tijuana inmates relish their moment in makeup, gowns

TIJUANA  It was a pageant like so many others, featuring women in tiaras, gowns and impossibly high heels. But the rolls of barbed wire, armed guards and harsh lighting gave it away: The contestants, for were behind bars at Tijuana’s La Mesa State Penitentiary.

Dubbed the “Our Inner Beauty Competition,” Friday’s event was a first for what was once among Mexico’s most notorious prisons. Applauding were prison staff, a few family members and some community guests, but the most heartfelt support came from rows of female inmates looking on.

“It’s four years that I haven’t worn a dress and makeup, and it feels amazing,” said contestant Paulina Mendoza, 22, a Chula Vista native, waving her hands in front of her face to prevent tears from ruining her mascara. A 2008 graduate of San Diego High School, she has been at the prison since 2009 while undergoing trial on kidnapping charges.

The 25 contestants ranged in age from 19 to 62, many of them serving lengthy sentences for crimes such as homicide, kidnapping and drug trafficking. The finalists were granted the rare privilege of shedding their light gray prison garb and wearing makeup, both prohibited lest an inmate try to disguise herself as a visitor and escape.

As night fell over the stage, contestants danced merengue, sashayed down the runway in three different outfits and answered questions: What is respect? What is the best thing about being a woman? What causes crime?

The winner was Gloria Vanessa Murrillo, a dark-haired 22-year-old sentenced to seven years for staging her own kidnapping. The best part of competing, she said, “is being able to show the changes one makes by discovering one’s inner beauty, not just what’s outside.”

The pageant afforded a rare look into the overcrowded prison. Built to hold 2,600, the penitentiary has 6,988 inmates, including 511 women.

With intense security checks and numerous surveillance cameras, La Mesa has moved beyond the days when it housed El Pueblito, a prison village where inmates could pay for privileges and their family members were allowed to live inside. El Pueblito was dismantled in 2001, but problems lingered and riots at the prison claimed 23 lives in 2008.

“We have the obligation of preparing those who are here so that tomorrow, when they’re set free, they are better people than when they arrived,” Ramírez said.

The pageant was proposed by Jorge Razo, the prison’s chief psychologist, as a way of motivating the female inmates and improving their self-esteem.

Contributing to the effort were makeup artists, hair dressers, photographers, a dance teacher, a theater director, a classical flutist, a master of ceremonies and an experienced pageant contestant who showed them how to walk in heels — a skill many said they had forgotten. Shoes and dresses were either donated, on loan or made by fellow prisoners.

As she prepared to present herself on stage in a long, red gown, Brittany Louise Fisher of Indio, serving a 36-year sentence for kidnapping and attempted murder, said: “I believe beauty is inside. When you take off the makeup, you’re still beautiful.”